for 24 years of my adult life I weighed well
over 200 lb I say by choice because you see I have never accidentally eaten anything
and when I choose to eat too much today I have chosen to weigh too much tomorrow you can
choose to set goals and realize your potential or you can choose not to set them now if you
choose not to set them you got to understand that the consequence Es are not going to be good
down the road Zig Ziglar was one of the world's most popular motivational speakers Ziglar
was
one of 12 children raised by a widowed mother during the Great Depression he wrote over
25 books including see you at the top and inspired millions of people around the world
in his exclusive training Ziglar shares with us practical insights on goal setting the
secrets to unlocking the full potential of visualization and confronts the realities of
difficulties and failure special thanks to the Ziglar family for partnering with us to release
this exclusive content on our YouTube channel
enjoy hello I'm Zig Ziglar and I'm really
excited that we're able to spend this time together in a few minutes this empty studio
will be filled with hundreds of people who just like you believe that to get ahead
in life you got to have goals during this program we'll look at why goals are important
how to set them and how to achieve them the hour you spend with this tape may be the
most important time you'll ever spend in your life now join me and our studio audience as
we take those firs
t steps towards a happier and more productive life do this and I'll
see you at the [Music] [Applause] top [Music] wow what enthusiasm my goodness alive read
something the other day you're going to be enormously intrigued with read where every
third person was either remark ably handsome are amazingly beautiful now what I'd like to get
you to do is look directly at the person on your left no left now look directly at the person
on your right and if it ain't either one of [Applause] them well
I all get I ought to get
us off to a good start here just as a matter of curiosity how many of you have ever either heard
me speak before or else this is your first time can I see your hands okay hey we're with it here
tonight that's great the name Howard Hill will probably ring a bell in the minds of some of
you but not all of you Howard Hill was a good Alabama boy he was an Archer many people said
he was the greatest of all time he entered 287 archery tournaments he plays first 287 times
as
a youngster I've seen news reels of Howard Hill I've seen him where they were filing him killing
a cape buffalo the toughest of all game animals to bring down with a bow and arrow he killed a bull
elephant he killed a large shark under about 15 ft of water as a youngster I've seen news reels
where from 50 ft he would shoot at a bullseye and split it precisely in the Center and then he
would take his second arrow and with the second Arrow he would split the first one an amazing
demonstr
ation of skill now I have never shot the boy in Era professionally but I am an instructor
par Excellence I I think that's French which means I'm really good but but I'm not absolutely
certain of that as a matter of fact I am so good as an instructor of archery that I could
spend 20 minutes with any man or woman in this audience this evening and provided your eyesight
is normal and your health is good at the end of 20 minutes I would have you hitting the bullseye
more consistently than Howar
d Hill could have hit it the best day of his life provided we had of
course first blindfolded Howard Hill and then turn him around a couple of times so he would have no
idea in which direction he was facing and you kind of Snicker you say well ugly that's the silliest
thing I've ever heard why of course we could shoot better than him because how in the world could a
man hit a Target he could not even see that's a pretty good question here's one even better how
can you hit a Target you don't
even have the question my friends is do you have your targets
have you clearly identified what it is that you want in life have you set a date as to when you
expect to get it have you identified the obstacles you must overcome in order to get there have you
identified the people the groups organizations you need to work with in order to get there
have you spelled out what it is you need to know to reach your objective have you developed a
plan of action and have you written it down as to w
hat's in it for me why do you want to reach the
goal in the first place you see the problem with most people is that what we we call a Wandering
generality in life but the truth is you can never achieve greatness unless you become a meaningful
specific you see the basic problem is most people when they're working on their job they get to
thinking you know I really ought to be spending time at home with my family and then when they at
home with the family get to thinking you really ought to
be out there working for my family and
so when they're out there working for the family their mind is back home and when they're back
home their mind is back out there in the field and then they tell everybody well I don't ever
have time to do anything no wonder you're always traveling you see the basic problem is not
lack of time it is lack of direction we all have exactly the same amount of time whether we're
a millionaire or a poper all of us have 24 hours every single day the truth is l
adies and gentlemen
we must have goals if we're going to do anything goals do a lot of things for example they enable
you to chase the blue lose away I've never known anybody who was truly depressed who had specific
and long range goals and what goals do is they create activity and you see activity as you work
towards reaching them creates the very excitement which you need in order to accomplish or reach
your objectives the psychologist put it this way logic will not change an emotion but
action will
and as you get busy working towards these dreams of yours and yes you absolutely must have your
dreams ladies and gentlemen and what we're going to do is look at the ways you build a foundation
underneath those dreams several years ago they did an experiment with a number of college students
and in this particular experiment they let them go to sleep and they hook these brain machines
up to them with these brain machines they could determined precisely within a matter of seconds
when the student went to sleep then they could tell when that student started to dream and as the
student would start to dream they would awaken him or her and then they'd let him go back to sleep
and that is no problem but when they started to dream they would awaken them again and with those
brain wave machines they can tell exactly when they start to dream at the end of one night of
this kind of treatment many of the students were nervous and fidgety at the end of two nights of
this ki
nd of treatment where they had a reasonable amount of sleep but no dreaming they became very
irritable and very short and very cross at the end of just three nights of a reasonable amount
of sleep but no dreaming they could tell that some of them were headed for some psychological
difficulties and so what they did was they aborted the experiment now about 24 hours later most of
the students were back to normal within a week all of them had returned 100% but the experiment
proves something v
ery conclusively and that's this when you're asleep ladies and gentlemen you
need your dreams I'm here to tell you that when you're wide awake you also need your dreams you
must have your goals you'll never make it as a Wandering generality you must become a meaningful
specific if you're going to work tomorrow because that's what you did yesterday you're not going to
be as good tomorrow as you were yesterday because now you're two days older and no closer to the
goal which you do not have y
ou can't make it as a Wandering generality most people understand you
got to become a meaningful specific it reminds me of an experiment done some little while ago by
Jean Henry fabre the great French naturalist he took a number of processionary caterpillars
so named because they follow each other in a procession and he lined them around a flower
pot until they formed a NeverEnding Circle and they started going round and round 24 4 hours that
first day and then there went the next day and t
he next and by the about the third or the fourth day
he put some pine needles into the center of that flower pot that's the food of the processionary
caterpillar they kept going round and round seven full days and seven full nights they went round
and round until they literally dropped dead from starvation and exhaustion with an abundance of
food less than 6 in away they had starved to death because they confused us used activity with
accomplishment you've got some friends that are in the s
ame shape they're busy busy buy all the time
they're going going going going and they're here and they're there and they're somewhere else but
they never really accomplish anything because they don't have those specific clearly identifiable
objectives you got to have those goals now that you know why it's important to have goals take
the next few minutes to prepare a drink Dream sheet write down everything you've ever wanted to
do or be or have now don't be judgmental let your mind run free
here's a guide to help organize
this dream sheet as you write down one idea it will trigger others no matter how far-fetched
or seemingly unrealistic be sure to write down everything begin with travel and vacations where
you want to go and how you going to get there your automobile that kind the color all of the options
the house the the size of it the style and all of the extras the money savings Investments your
career the salary the increase the raises and all the benefits which go with
it your promotions
uh the children and your family the education activities the shared time friendship the respect
the helping of others your health your your body weight the exercise your religion your church
involvement your religious study and your mind education reading Recall now if other things
come to mind you add them to your list take your time to complete this list and when you're
finished set it aside for 24 to 48 hours at that point get out your dream sheet again and after
eac
h item write why now this is crucial if you cannot clearly articulate in one sentence why you
want to be do or have what you included on your list it is not something you're serious about so
take it off we'll get back to this later yet the truth of the matter is 97% of the people in our
great land never really set their goals in the proper light in the way that you're going to be
taught during the course of this program 97% and one of the major reasons is because of a little
thing called fe
ar now you spell fear obviously f e a and that really is an acostic for false
evidence appearing real but if it appears real ladies and gentlemen it's real for example I
could take this handkerchief and my finger and rob the bank in your town and probability all I'd
have to do is put the hang of over my face put my finger in my pocket and walk up to the toer and
of my meanest voice say give me your money and chances are superb that they would give me the
money the evidence would be false bu
t it would appear real and because of that they would give
me the money a young Cuban hijacked an airplane to Cuba with a bar of soap he took it to the
captain of the aircraft and he said uh let's go to Cuba I've got a bomb in here though the
evidence was false it appeared real and they went to Cuba you see the truth of the matter is a lot
of people collect a great deal of false evidence and the net result is they never set the goals
now let me assure you there's a certain amount of danger
in setting goals for example next Monday
morning I get on an aircraft in Dallas Texas going into Atlanta Georgia at 8:45 now I've got sense
enough to know that when I get on that airplane there's a certain amount of danger when I get
aboard that aircraft because some airplanes are coming down faster than they go up and I'll tell
you when those airplanes come down faster than they go up there's danger for me but there's more
danger for the airplane you see when an airplane comes down faster
than it goes up you just about
can't hardly trade those dudes in at any price I mean their market value is gone see there's danger
for the airplane but there's more danger for the airplane if it stays on the ground did you realize
that according to the engineers an airplane will wear out faster sitting on the ground than it
will wear out flying in the heavens it'll rust out on the ground it'll wear out in the heavens
not nearly as fast in the air as it'll rust out on the ground besides airp
lanes are built to fly
you get on a ship there's danger it might sink but there's more danger for the ship if it stays
at anchor in the harbor experts tell me that it will collect Barnacles and become unseaworthy
faster in the harbor than it will if it sails the high seas and besides that's what ships
are built for now there's a certain amount of danger in setting your goals because you
see you might not reach those goals but folks there's danger if you don't set the go you
see man and nat
ure are 180° apart we use up Nature's Natural Resources by using them up but
we use up man's Natural Resources by not using them at all Oliver wend Holmes expressed it very
eloquently when he said the tragedy in America is truly that we waste our natural resources
but one of infinitely greater tragedy is the fact that we waste our Human Resources by not
using what we've got the average person goes to their grave with their music still in them
what a shame you got to have goals ladies and ge
ntlemen I want to talk a little bit about goals
on the line of how do you lose 37 pounds and write a book I'm just going to kind of give you that
as an example for 24 years of my adult life by choice I weighed well over 200 lb I say by choice
because you see I have never accidentally eaten anything I mean it's always been deliberate and
when I choose to eat too much today I have chosen to weigh too much tomorrow you can choose to set
goals and realize your potential or you can choose not to
set them now if you choose not to set them
you got to understand that the consequences are not going to be good down the road for 24 years
I was going to lose that weight as a matter of fact in 24 years I lost several thousand pounds of
weight how many of you already know exactly what I'm talking about but it wasn't until I wrote
it down put a date on it listed the obstacles I had to overcome identified the people the groups
organizations I needed to work with spelled out a plan of action
set that time limit in there and
identified all of the benefits to me it was only when I did that that the goal became a reality
and I lost the weight for 10 or 15 years I was going to write a book you know anybody who's
going to do just a whole lot of things folks I was going to write a book but it wasn't until I
got busy writing the book and writing the plans first before the book ever materialized Yale
University 1953 did a study of their graduating seniors they discovered that only 3% o
f them had
taken all seven of the steps you need to take in setting your goals another 10% had taken part of
the steps but the majority 87% Beyond graduating from college and becoming a professor or a
preacher or a doctor or whatever very few of the other 87% had taken any of the steps in
setting those goals now 19 1973 20 years later they did another study of these graduating seniors
and in the area which you can measure which is in your career and in your finances the 3% who had
taken al
l seven steps that is they had written down clearly identified exactly what they wanted
they had put the date on when they expected to get there they had identified the obstacles they
had to overcome they had spelled out the people the groups organizations they had to work with
that identified what they needed to know they had developed a plan of action and they had written
it down why do I want to get there these 3% had accomplished more than the 97% combined who had
not set those go goals
now if it sound like I'm trying to sell you on having goals how many of
you are getting close already how many of you are being becoming convinced right quick like that
you need to have those goals there's no question about it the immortal JC Penny many many years
ago said give me a stock clerk work with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history
but give me a man without a goal and I'll give you a stock clerk now the interesting thing is
Golds do not care who has them let me giv
e you a classic example of the way they work in 1950 a
war torn devastated Japan a nation which had lost an incredibly high percentage of its young men
their cities were in Ruins said bombed out but in 1950 they got together they meaning industry
and government got together and set a goal the goal was we're going to be the number one nation
in the world during the 1950s in the production of textiles in 1959 ladies and gentlemen they
accomplished that objective in 1960 they set another goal
we're going to be the number one
nation in the world in the production of Steel now when you understand there's no iron or in
Japan of any significance there's no C of any significance there we're going to be the number
one nation in the world in the production of Steel it seemed like an absurd goal and yet
they reached their objectives they had taken all of the steps in 1970 the Japanese set another
goal they said during the 70s we'll be the number one nation in the world in the production
of
automobiles they missed it folks one year it took them until 1980 in 1980 they set another goal
and this time their goal was we're going to be the number one nation in the world in the production
of computers and electronics and they're working very very hard to reach their goals yes indeed
ladies and gentlemen you absolutely must have those goals you got to write them down you got
to put a date on it you got to identify those obstacles you've got to identify the people
the groups you
need to work with you got to find out what it is you need to know you got to
develop a plan of action and you got to write it down what's in it for me now that's a formula
that I have just given you pure and simple now if I were to ask you what 3 * 3 was there isn't a
person here who could not instantly answer it but if I were to ask you what is 5,128 * 2,165 odds
are enormous that very few of you could pop out the answer that quickly but if I were to say to
you get your pencil and paper ou
t figure it out then all of you could figure it out why you know
the formula now you see if you know the formula it really doesn't make any difference ladies and
gentlemen what the goal really is when I started to write the book I took precisely the same steps
that I'm talking about I wrote down the objective I wrote down the time I completed or expected to
complete the book identified the obstacles there and yes I know this is repetitious it's the mother
of learning I wrote out and identif
ied the people the groups organizations I needed to work with
with I devised a plan of action to do it I spelled out what I needed to know and I wrote it all down
what's in it for me I think most of us would like to be part of that successful group of people with
goals but few of us take the time to sit down and write out our plan for Life the truth is most
of us just don't know how to go about doing it so here are seven steps to help you start setting
goals first you've got to identify the
goal next you need to set a deadline for achievement number
three you need to list the obstacles to overcome number four you need to identify the people
and groups to work with number five you need to list the skills and the knowledge required to
reach your goal number six you need to develop a plan of action and number seven you need to list
the benefits what's in it for me these are the seven steps you must take to set your goals the
truth of the matter is you see there are seven types o
f goals but the formula works exactly the
same whether it's a social goal a mental goal a physical goal doesn't make a difference what kind
of goal is let me kind of alert you and give you a simple example of why we need to be alerted
to why we need some of our goals for example is there anybody here who has a racehorse worth
in excess of a million dollars can I see your hands okay now if you did have a thorough breed
horse worth in excess of a million dollars would you keep him up half the
night letting him drink
coffee and booze and smoke cigarettes and eat junk food now chances are you'd say zgla that's crazy
of course now how about a $10 dog would you treat him that way $5 cat what about a billion dollar
body see we need goals identified to take care of our physical body we need family goals we
need career goals we need spiritual goals and yes we also ladies and gentlemen need financial
goals hey there it's Mark Tim with the Ziglar family and I sure hope you're enjoying t
he video
from my mentor the legendary Zig Ziglar because you're part of evans's audience we want to
give you a special bonus it's a cool little book called the little book of big quotes packed
with awesome content this book is free just for you check out the description below and it's
yours all righty let's get you back to Z before going any further it's time to take a personal
inventory kind of a checkup from the neck up to see how you're performing in various areas of
your life as each a
rea appears on the screen evaluate yourself on a scale of 1 to five five
being excellent begin with a physical area of your life life rate yourself on appearance
medical checkups exercise programs weight control and nutrition the next area is the family
your listening habits your forgiving attitude of being a good role model time together supportive
of others respectful and loving Financial earnings your savings and Investments budget adequate
Insurance charge accounts social your sense of
humor your listening habits your self-confidence
your manners and caring the spiritual the inner peace the sense of purpose prayer religious
study belief in God mental imagination attitude continuing education reading and curiosity
career job satisfaction Effectiveness job training understanding the job the purpose and
your competence now review your performance in all seven areas and determine which areas need
Improvement we will use this evaluation later in the program to help you set you
r goals now
goals have certain characteristics for example we need some big goals and some multiple goals we
need more than one goal if you just have one goal you'll end up being a warped individual now if
you only have one goal chances are good you're going to reach it if you work at it as we've
been talking about uh but you don't want to be warped you need the balance that we're talking
about I'd set the goal of losing the 37 pounds now that is a big goal you need big goals because
big g
oals force you to reach in and utilize the potential which is there I love the story of Old
Gentleman Jim Corbett the former heavyweight box and champion of the world Corby was out doing his
road work one morning and he saw our fisherman who was just having a field day I mean he was
pulling in the big ones and he was pulling in the little ones and carbin noticed that as he
was running past the fisherman was putting the little fish in his creel and he was throwing the
big ones back in he cou
ldn't resist it he walked over to him ran over to him and said mister he
said I've seen a lot of fisherman in my lifetime but I believe you're the first one I've ever
seen who threw the big fish back and who kept the little ones now why in the world would you
do a thing like that and the fisherman sadly shook his head and he said man I I hate to do
it but he said I don't really have any choice I have to throw the big ones back because you see
all I've got just this little old bitty frying p
an now before you laugh too broad let me point
out he's talking to you and about you and he's talking about me so many times we got the Big
Goal the big idea the big dream something that would make a big difference not only in our lives
but other lives and no sooner do we get this big old and say oh no Lord don't give me such a big
one all I got just this little old bitty frying pan give me a little one just a little one don't
make me stret besides you know if the goal was any good if the i
dea was any good somebody else
would already have thought about it just give me a little one folks you got to have some big
goals in life because it's the big goals which really make you reach in and uh res and use
the resources which are at your disposal and the resources you have are awesome Emerson
was absolutely right when he said what lies behind us and what lies in front of us pales in
significance when compared to what lies within us you've got within you the capacity to reach
some
of those big goals and you need to follow the steps we're talking about because that makes
them sensible and sound and logical but we need some dreams we need some big goals one of my
goals was to lose 37 lbs because I was sick and tired of being sick and tired in a nutshell
and one of the toughest things I've ever done in my life was to discipline myself to get on
that exercise program requiring the jogging and requiring the dieting up until then you see
my idea of exercise had been simply
to fill the tub take a bath pull the plug and fight the
current I mean you know that was it and anyway you cut it folks that really is not much of an
exercise program and I finally got on it and I went to work to lose that weight now it took 10
months that was a big goal it was a goal which made a definite difference in my life writing
the book was a big goal it made a different a definite difference in my life now you got to have
some long range gos as well ladies and gentlemen now I don'
t want to be negative matter of fact
I'll be like the little boy who came home from school one day and said Dad I'm afraid I flun the
arithmetic test his dad said son that's negative be positive he said Dad I'm positive I flun the
arithmetic test now I'm absolutely positive folks that you're going to have some difficulties in
your life in front of you ladies and gentlemen there is trouble some friends of yours are going
to disappoint you your employer or employees are going to disappoint yo
u there's going to be some
setbacks and reversals that you absolutely cannot understand there're going to be things happen in
your future that will frustrate you flabbergast you amaze you disgust you and everything else
and that's the reason you've got to have long range goals you see if you've got those specific
long range goals ladies and gentlemen and then when things don't go exactly your way you will
treat the setbacks as a pebble on the beach if you don't have those goals you'll treat
it as
if it were the whole ocean front you got got to have long range goals and the reason you need
long range goals is because the long range goals help you to deal with and overcome those short
range failures the rule is very simple you go as far as you can see and then when you get there
you'll always be able to see further I set my goal to lose 37 pounds in 10 months that was
my objective and as I looked at it 37 lbs in 10 months I knew and I knew in my own mind that I
could reach tha
t goal of losing 37 PBS in the 10 months but we got to break things down like when
I get aboard that aircraft in Dallas going into Atlanta you see for the first 20 minutes we'll
be headed straight towards Atlanta but after 20 minutes we'll no longer be going to Atlanta don't
know where we'll be going but he won't be Atlanta Georgia because the direction of the wind will
change the velocity will change the gravitation pull of the Earth the Sun the moon and the stars
will all blow that airpla
ne off the course and so the captain of the aircraft will turn the
aircraft around fly back to Dallas land and start over just saying if you're paying attention how
many of you how many of you know perfectly good and well he's not going to do that he's going to
make a different heading is he not he's going to change the course you see when you have those
long range goals a lot of thing times things happen to you well you don't abandon the gold
as my younger brother judge Ziglar says you don
't change your decision to go you simply
change your direction in order to get there see we can't always predict what's going to be
out there when I set the goal of losing the 37 lbs in 10 months I broke it into 10 parts 10
months I was going to do it that's 3 and 710 pounds per month now folks I knew I could lose
3 and 710 pounds a month you see that's less than pound a week I knew and I knew that I knew
that I could lose 3 and 710 pound a month as a matter of fact I was so certain that I
could but
I didn't even bother to get started the first 28 days how many have you know exactly what I'm
talking about I mean listen man the contest is 6 months why get all exercised about it the
first week or but Mom school just started we've got nine more months why should I knuckle down
and study now oh look I've got all week to get the correspondence out boss man or boss lady why
should I hustled so hard today but you know Time Marches on 28 days and then I realized what was
happening I
was raised in the little town of yzu City Mississippi now I know that a lot of folks
go around the country trying to impress people by claiming to be from yazu City uh but I really
am now when I was a boy during the Depression and we live next door to some rich folks I knew they
were Rich for two reasons number one they had a cook number two the cook had something to cook
and during the Depression that was a sure sign of wealth I was over there for lunch one day as
I tried to be every day
and I don't misunderstand that even though there was a depression on we
certainly had plenty to eat at my house I know we had plenty because if I ever pass my place for
seconds they'd always tell me no you've had plenty so I know we had plenty now the cook brought the
biscuits out and this is not an exaggeration those biscuits were not as thick as my wrist was and
I looked at her for a moment I said M what in the world happened to your biscuits she rared back
gave a big old tummy life and s
aid well I'll tell you about those biscuits she said they squatted
to rise but she said they just got cooked in the squat you know anybody that's get cooked in the
squat you know anybody who's going to do something just as soon as are there half a m to do such and
such thing you ever have anybody say well you know wait kids get out of school and then I'll really
get involved in this project we got so many things going on right now wait out of school wait till
summer time comes and then I'll
really get busy the kids get out of school you know what they say
then well you know I didn't realize but I got to take the kids somewhere every day I had more time
when they were in school waiting to get back in school and then I really get busy kids get back in
school you know what they say then well you know for the first time in 19 years dear old Central
High finally got a winning football team and you got to support the kids that way like the football
season's over then I'll really ge
t busy football season then you know what they say then well here
it is Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's and people don't want to be bother with this
sort of thing this time of year wait after the first of the year man then I'll really get busy
after the first of the year you know what they say well it's the weather did did you ever see
weather like this in Chicago or San Francisco or Dallas or wherever wait till the weather settles
down and then I'll really get busy oh I know what
you're thinking you're thinking I've lost
interest in it but that's not the way I do they did just let me tell you the way I do things now
here's the way I am s this is just the way I do [Music] [Applause] [Music] it see the way I do
things is I get everything organized I get it lined up I have everything in just such and such
order and then man once I get it all put together that's when I really get after I mean that's just
the way I've always been that way do things that way I know some
of these other folks are head up
right now but you just wait I'll catch them but this weather it is just so horrible wait till it
clears up and the weather clears up you know what they say then well here it is it's Easter time
and Easter time you know that's a family time and we always spend a lot of time together and you
said so yourself the family is extremely important to you you do the work for the family and if you
can't spend some time with them you might as well not do all of the wor
k I mean wait after Easter's
over then I'll really get busy and then after this you know what they say at long last we've got
some beautiful weather and I have it hit a go ball or wet a hook and I don't know when man I
got to have some RNR I got to have some rest and relaxation and you know you said if you can't work
all the time I mean an individual need some time with them say wait till I relax a little bit and
man then I'll really get after it and finally they get after a little bit you
know or when they have
the fun and relaxation then they say well it's almost time for the kids to get out of school and
that's where we came in as we say Down Home Folks you can put this in your pipe and smoke it because
it's the truth the people who wait for a Matilda to move out or John to get on the day shift or
the new models to come out or the new mayor to come in or for the new advertising campaign to get
started the people who wait on the new senator in Washington or until inflation
slows or the rate
of interest come down the people who wait for changes to take place out there before they do the
changing in here are flat going to end up getting cooked in the squat the rule is simple you do it
now you do it now when I analyzed what I had to do when I wrote it down and understood my objective
that all I had to do was lose one and 29 1 and 29 hundreds oun per day then 10 months later to
the inch to the Ounce and to the day I had lost the weight the truth of the matter is
in writing
the book it's a 384 page book it's entitled see you at the top we've sold in excess of a, 500,000
copies I wrote 1. 2600 Pages a day for 10 months you see to reach your goals ladies and gentlemen
it does not involve Monumental undertakings every day of your life but what it does involve is a
lot of commitment a lot of decision and working on it in a Relentless steady committed basis
you got to do something every every day when I broke it down into that specific thing you see
Gol
ds you got to be specific you can't make it as a Wandering generality you absolutely must
become a meaningful specific you can take the hottest day of the world has ever seen take the
most powerful magnifying glass you can buy in any store and hold that magnifying glass over a
pile of newspaper clippings on that hottest day and you'll never start a fire to keep the glass
moving but the moment you hold that glass still harness the power of the sun multiply it through
the glass and boom you g
ot to fire you got to have specific goals my goal was specific write the book
by July 4th lose the weight at the same time to the inch to the Ounce and to the day it all came
to pass you've got to have those specific goals during this program we've asked you to prepare a
dream sheet and a self- evaluation sheet look at your self- evaluation a sheet and determine which
areas need Improvement set some specific goals for these areas now take your dream sheet and itemize
only those things which
you truly want to achieve combine these items with those from the self
evaluation sheet and you will have a comprehensive list of your major goals from this new list select
at least two goals you will work on every day it will be easier to select the goals if you remember
that for each goal you must answer yes to these five questions number one is it really my goal
number two is it morally right and fair number three are my short range goals consistent with my
long range goals number four
can I commit myself emotionally to complete the project and number
five can I visualize myself reaching this goal for each goal you plan to work on daily set a deadline
for achievement list the obstacles you need to overcome identify the people in groups you need to
work with list the necessary skills and knowledge develop a plan of action and list the benefits you
will receive then periodically re-evaluate each of your goals when one goal is reached replace it
immediately with another your
emphasis on certain goals may change so it is critical to review your
goals list regularly now the question often comes with all of us if we want to reach our goals how
do you go about it do you share your goals with other people that possibly is the most often asked
question of all to me how and who do you share your goals with and the rule is basically fairly
simple if it's a give up goal you share it with everybody if it's a go up goal you share it only
with those people whom you love a
nd trust and whom you know are going to be supportive of you now
for example a give up goal if I'm going to give up eating too much or drinking too much if I'm going
to give up smoking if I'm going to give up cussing if I'm going to give up being mean and nasty and
Ary any of the go give up gos like that I want to share it with other people because others
are supportive and they will encourage you in that but but for example if you're a salesperson
and your goal is to be the number one sale
s lady in the organization or the number one salesman in
the organization and you go to another one of the sales ladies and say hey I'm going to be number
one sales lady in this whole organization this whole year and that lady's objective was to do
the same thing do you think she's going to say to you yeah you can sure do it when all the time
she's wanting to do it uh-uh but if you go home and tell your husband or your wife yes indeed I'm
going to be number one this year you'll get the enco
uragement and the support there which is so
extremely important yes you really have to have that understanding of goals if they give up goals
share them with everybody if they go up goals share them only with the people whom you know will
give you the support want to reach your goals you got to make a commitment now one of the basic
problems in life is so many people do not make commitments when I was losing that weight one of
the toughest things I've ever done in my life was continue to de
ny myself the food which I so dearly
love especially the sweets and it was really tough to get involved in all of that jogging but I had
made a commitment and because the commitment was made I really decided I was going to stay with
it I had another commitment when I wrote the book one of the first things I put in there
was that I weighed 165 lbs and that I had a 34in waistline I had it typ set now at the time I
put that in there I weigh 202 lbs and had a 41 in waistline now the reason that
's imported is very
simply this I could not get a publisher to publish the book initially for me later is no trouble
but initially I could not I had to publish the book myself and in that I decided to order 25,000
copies a friend said if you sell 25,000 copies you got yourself a best seller so I ordered 25,000
copies of the book now let me tell you something about books the first copy cost you more than the
next 24 $4,999 and those 24,999 ain't cheap I'm talking about a whole bunch of money
now I made
a financial commitment to buy those books I also had written in there that I weighed 165 pounds
now let me tell you something about human nature if I tell you one lie and you catch me in it from
here on in everything I say you're going to put a question mark after it if you tell me a lie and
I catch in it from here on in everything you say to me I'm going to put a question Mark in it in my
book I wrote I weighed 165 lbs I had 25,000 copies of the book now you can imagine what wo
uld happen
if I had not lost the weight now I got a warehouse full of books s away 165 and I come waddling out
at 202 and your next question would be I wonder what else he lied to me about friends I made a
commitment there is no question about it you got to make a commitment and you got to understand
something which is extremely important and that is that your vocabulary makes a great deal of
difference in your success in life I got to apologize for those people who've heard me do this
but
for years I went around the country and with a strained expression on my face and pain in my
voice I'd say you got to pain the price sound like a dying calf in a snowstorm and what a bunch of
baloney that was I I'll never forget nine months of hating J Jing and hating joggers how many of
you hate joggers can I see you're hand okay for nine months I really hated those joggers you know
every time I saw one he's jumping up and down and saying man it makes you feel so good it gives
you so much
energy and there I was hating and hurting every step I was taking and fussing about
it too and then that day in Portland Oregon never forget it if I live to be 150 beautiful spring
day temperature about 78° it was high noon I was running on Portland State University campus
had a seminar at 4:00 this was high noon and as I was running out there that day I noticed a lot
of this students were laying on blankets some were reading some were studying some recording some
were snoozing and here co
mes old Ziglar running by sweat running down my back sweat running down
my legs and all of a sudden it hit me that for the first time I was really enjoying running I was
having a ball and that day I changed my vocabulary the the truth is folks you don't pay the price
for good health you enjoy the benefits of good health you don't pay the price for setting goals
you pay the price for not setting those goals you enjoy the benefits of reaching those goals you
don't pay the price for a good mar
riage you pay the price for a poor one you enjoy the benefits of
the good one you you don't pay the price for good health you pay the price for poor health you enjoy
the benefits of good health yes your vocabulary really does make a great deal of difference as
to whether or not you reach your goals or not we definitely need to keep it positive because you
see the mind takes whatever picture you paint in it and goes to work to complete that picture I
want to emphasize that what you get by re
aching your goal is not nearly as important as what you
become by reaching them the attitudes Knowledge and Skills and habits developed by people with
goals are of infinite value in the tomorrow of their lives with goals you can more fully realize
your maximum potential because goals enable you to know be do and have more use your mind and talents
fully have more purpose and direction in life make better decisions be more organized and effective
do more for yourself and others have greater
confidence and self-worth feel more fulfilled be
more enthusiastic and motivated and yes accomplish some uncommon projects want to reach your goals
you got to know how to train fleas now just as a matter of curiosity how many of you in this
audience do not know how to train fleas can I see your hands please boy it looks like I got
to you just in time and I know you heard the one about the two fleas at the bottom of the hill
and one of them said well do we walk or take a dog well anyhow you
train fleas by putting them
in a jar and you put the top on the jar and those fleas will jump up and they'll hit that top over
and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and you watch them jump for
a long period of time and they'll keep on jumping and hitting and jumping and hitting and you watch
them and then all of a sudden you'll notice that even though they continue to jump they will no
longer be hitting the top literal truth then you can take the top off an
d they'll jump and jump and
jump and jump and jump and jump but they cannot I repeat they cannot jump out and the reason
they cannot jump out is because they've been conditioned to jump just so high and once they've
conditioned themselves to jump just so high that's all there is there ain't no more man is precisely
the the same way he starts out in life to climb the mountain to write the book to break the
record to do something with his life and along the way he bumps his head he stubs his
toe and he
becomes what I call a snop now a snop and that is spelled SN i o p is a person who is susceptible
to the negative influence of other people classic example that everybody will instantly recognize
is the 4minute mile for years and years and years athletes the world over had tried to run a mile
in 4 minutes but because they were SN Ops they could not do it the coach had taken his watch out
and said man there ain't no way you can do it in 4 minutes maybe 402 maybe 405 but not 4 minu
tes the
doctors said put the stethoscope on the athletes heart instead of four minute mile you got to be
kidding man nobody will ever do that your heart will come right out of the body it is impossible
and nobody could run a 4minute mile until a fleet trainer named Roger banister came along and ran
a mile in less than 4 minutes when banister ran the mile in less than four minutes athletes the
world over started running miles in less than four minutes land of Australia did it less than
6 we
eks later I was in New Zealand last year and the man over there Thompson I believe is his name
though please don't hold me to that had just run his 100th four minute or sub four minute mile a
37y old man ran a mile in less than four minutes there have been four or five races were eight
young men all broke the 4minute barrier in the same race now what am I saying with all this I'm
saying that Roger banister got something started and I'm also going to tell you that Roger banister
understood m
ore about gold setting than just about anybody you will ever know he didn't just train
superbly and go run a sub four minute mile yes he trained extraordinarily hard but he measured his
stride he timed himself for the hundred to the 220 the 440 he had Pacers who paced him for the first
quarter the second quarter the third quarter and the fourth quarter he did it as scientifically
and as carefully as any gold setter I've ever seen in my life yes Roger banister is a flea
trainer what's a flea
trainer a fleet trainer is a person who's driven from within they're not
influenced by the SN Ops and the negative people in life a fleet trainer is an individual who
jumps out of the jar a fleet trainer understands that you can get everything in life you want if
you'll just help enough other people get what they want Fleet trainers don't tell others where
to get off flea trainers show them how to get on flea trainers don't try to see through other
people flea trainers see other people thr
ough want to reach your goals ladies and gentlemen
you absolutely must become a fleet trainer and you've got to build a winning attitude we could
talk talked three days 3 weeks 3 months about building winning attitudes Harvard University did
an exhaustive study on it discovered that 85% of the reason that people get jobs and get ahead in
those jobs is because they have the right mental attitude the co report involving well over a
thousand corporate Executives these men and women were asked
the question how important do
you think your attitude is in accomplishing your objective of becoming corporate Executives 49% of
these men and women said that their attitudes were extremely significant 46 and a 12% said they were
significant in other words 95 a half% of these more than 1,000 Executives said their attitudes
were significant or extremely significant to reach your goals yes indeed you absolutely must
have the right mental attitude and ladies and gentlemen let me say without an
y hesitation at all
if you're going to reach your goals you got to get other people involved you simply cannot reach
major objectives entirely on your own you got to understand that the influence other people have
and the help they can give you will play a major role in what you do when I was a small boy down
in yu City Mississippi I never shall forget there was an abandoned section of the railroad track and
as boys will do we often went down there and one of our little games was to see how
far we could
walk on that railroad track without falling off and we'd take a few steps and we'd fall and we'd
take a few steps and we would fall had we only understood that two of us could simply have gotten
parallel with each other reached across the rails and held hands that we could have literally
gone indefinitely without falling off when business when management and labor understand that
they're on the same side when husbands and wives and children understand that they're on the same
side when employer and employee understand that they both have the same objectives when they
begin to work together that's when everybody really benefits the most you look at the Super
Bowl teams every year and by and large you're going to have the super B Team the number one had
major objectives that was it incidentally did you realize that they spend over 3,000 hours each team
preparing for that specific event did you realize that the average American spends infinitely more
time planning
a vacation than they do planning their lives did you realize that more people spend
more time planning the wedding than they do the marriage you see we need ladies and gentlemen
we need those specific objectives and we need to work together on these things if we really are
going to work at our maximum and the most people benefit the most you need to work together it's
a matter of curiosity how many of you have ever seen a flock of Canadian geese flying overhead can
I see your hands okay if
you have you will notice three things about those Canadian Gees number one
they always fly in a V formation number two if you will notice them one leg of the V is always
longer than the other leg of the V and number three if you follow them carefully enough and long
enough you'll notice there's a considerable amount of confusion in the flock now just as a matter
of curiosity how many of you have ever wondered why one leg of the V is always longer than the
other one can you see your hands p
lease well let me explain expain that the longer leg is longer
because it has more geese in [Laughter] it you know I don't know why but that silly thing just
really grabs me I can't wait I can't wait to get to that particular one okay now the reason there's
confusion in the flock is that periodically they change the leadership of the flock of geese now
the reason they fly in a V formation is because in Wind Tunnel test they've discovered that the flock
of geese can fly 63% further than the
individual Goose could fly what they do the lead goose in
fighting the head wind creates a partial vacuum off either wing and those other geese are flying
in a partial vacuum he grows tired very easily or more quickly than the others and so they replace
leadership real often to give the leader a rest but by working together they can fly 63% further
in reaching your objectives yes indeed you really do need to work with other people if you're going
to reach your goals ladies and gentlemen you
got to get in shape now I want to emphasize something
here which I believe is enormously important in order to reach all of our goals we need to get in
shape spiritually because that is a very definite fact in our life we have spiritual goals but we
need spiritual help a lot of times to reach all of the other goals it requires study it inquires
prayer it it requires involvement there we need to get in shape physically ladies and gentlemen
because I don't care what your objective is I can s
hare this with you without any reservation when
I got in shape physically I was able to do a lot more things with my career because the energy
level increased rather dramatically I have far more energy now than I had when I was 25 years old
they tell me the psychologist do for example that when I make a one-hour presentation that I burn
more raw energy than a laboring man does in a 10hour day so when I do six and eight hours a day
or even three or four hours in a day or even one hour in a d
ay I have burned some energy as you can
tell I speak at about 280 words a minute with gust up to about 550 I mean you know I burn some energy
I move it on out now you also need to understand that if you're going to reach your goals you got
to become attentive to the details in your life a lot of little things that many people Overlook
and you need to become aware on a daily basis of what you're doing towards those goals now I'm not
trying to get you to be as detail oriented as the Executive
Vice President of our company I mean he
proofreads the zod's copies I I I don't think uh you know that's what we're talking about but it is
the little things that make the big difference you call a girl a kitten for example and she'll love
you call her a cat you see you got a problem there you you can say she's a vision you score all kind
of points call her a saint you're in bad trouble it's one thing to tell a young lady that she looks
like the first day of spring it's another thing to te
ll her she looks like the last day of a long
hard winter I mean there is a difference it's the little things fellas if you look at your wife and
say you know honey when I look into your eyes the wheels of time just stand still that's beautiful
that's portrait that's motivating that's exciting but can you imagine what would happen if you were
to look at her and say you know honey you got a face said stop a clock I mean it's the little
things if if if this watch of mine were 4 hours wrong I w
ouldn't have any trouble with it I can
tell you answer if my watch is 4 hours wrong but if it's 4 minutes wrong I'm in trouble for example
tomorrow morning I catch a flight at 8:20 now my watch is 4 minutes wrong and I get there at 8:24
see what the problem is I I made a deal with the airlines that you know if I was not there when
they got ready to go that they were just to go ahead without me and I found out last year that
they live up to their end of the agreement found out also it's easi
er to catch those dudes before
they leave the ground all of that to say it's the little things that make a big difference if you
want to reach your goals ladies and gentlemen not only must you be detail oriented looking after the
little things but you also must literally be able to see the reaching I had my physical examination
at the Cooper Clinic Preparatory to losing the weight and getting on the exercise program one
of the things I did over there and this is kind of ugly but I had not r
ead ant lard at the time
and I'll use it as my excuse although I really knew better you know Ann says you're not supposed
to steal Pages out of other folks magazines there was a magazine at Dr Cooper's office it was an
old magazine now and there was a picture in it advertising jocky shorts now I don't know if you
folks read the jocky short ads or not but if you don't read the jocky short Edge the next time you
see one you ought to at least look at a picture uh you'll find out in a hurry the
y don't put jockey
shorts on Fat Boys I mean they just don't at least they don't have a good year now I took that
picture of that fell in those jockey shorts and I hung it up in my bath room and I said now there's
my hero that's the way I'm going to be that's the way I am going to look well the next morning at
5:30 the opportunity clock sounded off negative people call them alarm clocks uh you know the
opportunity I mean if you you can hear it that gives you an opportunity to get up and go
you
know what I mean opportunity clock sounded off I rolled out of bed put on my fancy running
outfit I just got and hit the front door and ran a block literally did better the next day I
ran a block and a mailbox did better than that the next day I ran a block in two mailboxes I'll
never forget what happened and finally one day I ran a half a mile then a mile then two miles
and three then four then five but every time I went in the bathroom ladies and gentlemen I saw
the picture of that g
uy in the jockey shorts that became my goal right there I visualized myself
as looking just like that guy right there I'm going to look like this man in the jockey shorts
the truth of the matter is we really do need to have a clearly defined Target we need to be
able to literally see ourselves as reaching that objective for many many years before I ever
succeeded quote on the platform as a speaker it was my dream to do exactly that I cannot begin
to tell you the tens of thousands of speeche
s I made in my mind in order to reach that particular
goal I visualized every speech imaginable and the beautiful thing about imagination you see is
you can visualize any kind of speech and any kind of response you want in these speeches which
I made in my mind and boy do I ever wish we could have recorded just one of them you talking about
speeches you've heard about speakers having folks rolling in the aisles I had them rolling up and
down the steps you heard you know about Standing Ovati
on my average standing ovation was 11 minutes
in my dreams I mean listen I never made a mistake in the speech I had in my mind the audience sit
there with Incredible Rapture and attention I mean as if they could not believe that a mere mortal
could utter such incredible words of wisdom I mean the beautiful thing about the imagination is you
see you can make it absolutely just right you got to have your dreams but let me tell you something
folks be careful about your dreams be very careful b
ecause you see when you dream those dreams
when you write them down when you put a date on it when you list the obstacles which you have to
overcome in order to get there when you identify the people the groups and the organizations you
need to work with in order to get there when you spell out what you've got to know in order to
reach your objective Liv when you devise that plan of action that game plan to get there and
when you write it down what's in it for me when you do all of those th
ings ladies and gentlemen
and follow some of these other steps that we're talking about and are still talking about you're
going to be reaching some of those objectives I can honestly look you in the eye and say that
virtually every major objective I've ever set in my life has been reached and I honestly believe
that the rest of them will be reached when when you follow the steps with firm conviction when
you've made your commitments when you do all the things we're talking about things are
going to
happen in your life if you'll notice I've not even hinted throughout this entire presentation
that it is easy because it is not as a matter of fact I'm absolutely convinced that life is tough
but the point is you got to be tough on yourself and when you're tough on yourself uh then life is
going to be infinitely easier on you I can tell you it's fun I can tell you it's exciting I can
tell you it's rewarding and I can tell you that when you follow all of the steps we're talking
ab
out that all the goals we've been talking about the physical the mental the spiritual the social
the career goals the financial goals they all come to pass you see the interesting thing is as we
look at our goals there's no such thing as an individual goal when I set the goal for example of
writing that book only that one and 20 600 Pages a day little did I realize that it would have such a
bearing on my social goals you'll be amazed at the people that invite me to a free dinner now since
I
wrote a book I mean it affected my social life but you know what it also affected my family
life because it had to do a lot of research to put it together it improved our relationship it
improved my spiritual life because again I had to do some research there it definitely inove
improved my physical life because I tied it in had a dram IC impact on my career had an impact
in every phase of my life your goals are going to do the same thing there's no such thing as an
isolated goal they're a
ll tied in to so many of your other goals in order to reach your goals
we need to be able to visualize all of them many years ago in the days of the sailing ship
there was a young sailor who was out at sea for the first time and he was ordered a off to trim
the sails because a Squall was coming up and as he started to climb up he made the mistake of
looking down and the roll of the ship and the turbulence of the sea combined to cause him
to become nauseated and he started to lose his balanc
e and fall an older sailor underneath
shouted up at the young man look up son look up and the young sailor looked up and immediately
regained his balance you see the message is very clear when the Outlook isn't good try the uplook
it's always good and when things don't look good look to make absolutely certain that you're not
facing in the wrong direction as Helen Keller so eloquently put it when you're looking at the sun
you won't see the shadows and when you're looking towards your object
ives which you've set you
won't be seeing so many of the obstacles as you reach towards those goals many years ago as some
of you know the Great Houdini was in his Heyday some people said that Houdini was the greatest
magician who ever lived he was also the Master Locksmith he made the boast that he could get out
of any jail cell in the world if you'd let him walk in that jail cell with a street clothes on
he would be out in less than an hour a small town in the British aisles built a new j
ail they were
tremendously proud of it they didn't believe who in or anybody else get out of their jail and
so they challenged him to come give it a try there's a lot of publicity a lot of money involved
Houdini liked both of those things so he accepted the challenge there was the lot of the publicity
going in the drums were beating the bugles were blaring and Houdini strowed triumphantly into the
jail cell they closed the door behind him Houdini took his coat off and secreted in his belt w
as
a 10-in piece of Steel very tough very flexible very durable and he went to work on on the lock at
the end of 30 minutes The Confident even arrogant expression on Houdini's face had disappeared
at the end of an hour he was absolutely bathed in perspiration at the end of two hours he
actually collapsed and fell against the door which opened because it had never been locked anywhere
except in Houdini's own mind which me very simply that it was locked more securely than if every
locksmith
in Britain had put their best locks on the door I got to tell you folks there are a
lot of people who can stop you temporarily but I'm also going to look you right in ey and
tell you that you are the only one who can stop you on a permanent basis and I've got an
idea as you digest what we've been covering in this hour together that you're not going to
let anybody else stop you on reaching those worthwhile goals and you're certainly not going
to stop yourself but let me say this what you get
by reaching your goals is not nearly as important
as what you will become by reaching the goal that many people said you would not make when you
started out I close with this by these ideas follow these suggestions adopt these procedures
as your very own follow them right through to completion and I'll definitely see you and
yes I really do mean you at the top thank you very to watch the legendary Earl Nightingale
Strangest Secret check the video right there next to me I think you'll love
it
continue to believe and I'll see you there I'd like to tell you about The
Strangest Secret in the world not long ago Albert schwitzer the Great doctor and
Nobel Prize winner was being interviewed in London and a reporter asked him
doctor what's wrong with men today
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